'India Must Look Beyond GDP to Employment': Amit Shah on AI vs Cooperatives

While countries around the world are doubling down on artificial intelligence (AI), Union Home Minister Amit Shah is placing his bets on a “cooperatives” model for a nation like India. In an interview to The Economic Times, he said economic success cannot be measured by GDP growth alone.

“For countries will small populations, GDP is the main economic factor. But for a country with 140 crore like India, beyond GDP, we need to look at employment opportunities and the contribution of the entire population to the GDP. Today, everyone has basic amenities,” the minister told the news publication.

However, as there are aspirations for a better standard of living, Shah said small finance is needed – a gap that cooperatives fill. The minister is focused on cooperatives, targeting employment opportunities across the country.

A few days ago, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran also echoed similar sentiments, cautioning against possible over-deployment of AI tools to the detriment of labour. He even urged the private sector to “trust, deregulate and reciprocate”.

He reiterated that the government is shifting focus from public-led growth to private sector-driven expansion. “Trust, deregulation and reciprocity are key for India to avoid the middle-income trap,” the CEA said, while urging India Inc to lead investments, job creation and compensation for a sustained capital formation.

"Going forward, in our country, while we understand that competitiveness and productivity considerations would require an increase in the number of GPUs, artificial intelligence engines being deployed, we are a country which has to create eight million livelihoods every year at minimum, excluding agriculture,” Nageswaran highlighted.

"And therefore, we have to have policies that rely on capital-led growth but also policies — and this is not just the government, but policies in the private sector — that can focus on labour-intensive manufacturing as well,” he added.

Currently, India is developing its own GPUs, enhancing the AI Data Kosh (which already houses 367 datasets), and rolling out a nationwide talent development program covering everything from beginner-level skills to PhD-level foundational research.